Gardener's True Confessions

Love the giant bigfoot tracks. Get the suit and put the video on youtube I say.

We tried to get DS to wear the bunny suit but he's afraid one of the redneck neighbors would shoot at him!! LOL

What a great idea. The kids will love it and tell all their little friends. Take photos of the prints so they can prove what they saw - you know how other little kids can be.

Now I feel inadequate that I don't have an embarrassing story to tell. If we change the theme to gardening mistakes or regrets, I have plenty.

We're ready for it, Victor. Please tell us your regrets or mistakes.

Wow, where to begin?? Using small stones for ANYTHING. Was talked into it for around my pool, for an inexpensive patio and as a bed edging. Huge mistake. Looks nice the first year. Then it gets very weedy no matter what you do. In the pool area I am just over-planting it. I hope to put a deck over it on the patio. As for the edging, I have no idea what to do. The edging using river rock - the perfect size that gets kicked around - by people and by mowers. The grass in growing through it. Weeds are growing in it - nightmare!

As for plants - ornamental grass Chasmanthium latifolium - Nothern Sea Oats - seeded all over and hard to pull out. Eupatorium 'Chocolate' - same thing, though easier to pull. A supposedly variegated gooseneck loosestrife that was 'not a thug like its hated cousin'. Problem was - once it grew there was no variegation and it was already spreading all over. That one is a killer to get rid of. I will probably have to resort to judicious use of chemicals at some point. Even Buddleia have begun to pop up all over the last two years. They did not do that for the first five or so years.

Those are the biggies off the top of my head. There are certainly more. Anyone else??

What a difference a zone and a half makes. I know Andy has talked about some of those reseeding but could never imagine it. Most of those barely make it through the winter here.

See - there are advantages to colder areas!

IF it makes you feel better we pull at least a thousand Buddleia a year. My Gooseneck Loosestrife has old chunks of granite at both sides and is not allowed past. If it wanders I "delete" it. It's 12 years now and still under control.

Other gardening errors: Aegopodium, Houttuynia, Lamium, Ivy (inherited landscaping), chives, garlic chives, horseradish until I potted it up and now it's fine, mint - until I put it in a pot 2' off the ground, New England Asters - until we put them on top of the sod pile.

I know! My A/C bill is almost nonexistent October through May.

October through May? You're a tease, Al.

Oh yeah - Hops. What a disaster - it will grow over your house! When I attempted to remover the monster last Fall, I pulled out a root mass about 2 1/2 feet around. I'm sure I did not get everything. It was very pretty and the flowers smell real nice but fuggetaboutit!

leave it to Al - he's just so cool all on his own.

Please don't say lamium is a mistake! I have a whole bunch ordered as a ground cover for some dry shady areas . . . sigh.

For us the seed spreads far and wide and never where we might want it. Though the foliage is lovely it's not welcome here.

Well, I am lucky - I live in this wonderful neighbourhood - I can just dig them up and give plants away.

I can't think of anything embarassing, but I bet if I ask DH he can. I tend to block these things out. I'll have to get back to you LOL

Maybe they won't be a problem for you, Seandor. A lot depends on the soil. I must have good soil for weeds. Odd that the Gooseneck Loosestrife can be tamed (and I love it) but the others are miserable. Morning Glory seeds are another problem. I rue the day we ever planted that vine!

Ditto on the gooseneck loosestrife, anything with square stems,MG's, most things that other gardeners have extras of.LOL

Pirl - what did you say was bad about your New England asters before?

My large miscanthus'Silver Feather' I was able to spray back and put a sheet metal barrier in before it took over everything.

I'm learning my lesson with the aster too....who knew?

The asters spread too much and took over an entire (huge) section so I dug them up and put them on top of the sod pile, leftover from when we stripped the sod to make the vegetable garden. They don't have anywhere to go now, except down the hill and they haven't done it.

In bloom.

Cut back. Big difference!

Wow Pirl!
I think you could have gone into floral design with those!!lol They are beautiful though!
One year someone gave us a Tomatillo which at the end of the season rototilled into the ground complete with fruit. The next year they sprouted everywhere!

Seandor, I have very well behaved lamium in my dry shade. I was surprised when I first heard Pirl had a problem with it. I never had a problem with Morning Glories either though a lot of folks in other parts of the country have.
Other people recommend ajuga and I had that run through my entire lawn (not that it bothered me much because I'm not big on my lawn). I think that a lot of these things are indiosyncratic. Others (mint, loosestrife) are problems for everyone.

Sandy - Thanks! We do try to encourage people not to add tomatoes, peppers or any member of the nightshade family to their compost and you experienced one of the results when you had the tomatillos growing everywhere. A friend in Lake George felt we were wrong, too, and spread her "compost" and had thousands of tomatoes growing everywhere.

Dave - I'm sure a lot of plants that are classified "invasive" for some of us are just fine with other gardeners. I think I'll be fighting the Celandine until the day I die but they're sweet little plants......on someone else's property.

The asters should begin growth within the next week so if anyone wants to trade just drop me a Dmail.

I had a problem with ajuga. I had a small patch that I used as ground cover in an area under trees and when we took down the trees I pulled that out. Years later it started coming up in my lawn far away from the original place and spreading like crazy. The neighbors were not to thrilled so finally we chemicalized it. It was getting closer to their property and I'm all for keeping peace. DWBH (that's my own)!!!!

OK grammyphoeb - come clean! What's DWBH?

Don't Worry Be Happy!! (Hate the song though) LOL
I did do something useful today. I am so sick of this cold weather. I went nursery hopping and I am so lucky in Glens Falls as there are 6 nurseries within 5 miles of my house plus Lowes, Home Depot, and 2 Agways. I've read some of the messages where all some gardeners have are the big box places to get things. I didn't get to all of them but was looking for some supplies. I was able to find diatomaceous earth that I need to mix with pine bark for the soil mixture for containers to keep ants at bay (tapla - water movement article). I had never heard of the stuff and thought maybe I would have to order online. I also enjoyed walking through some of the greenhouses thinking about warmer weather. It is still cold and windy here. :-))))

Invasiveness is a quirky thing. I do have Ajuga spreading in my lawn. I never planted it but like Dave said, I'm not big on lawns so I leave it. I agree about Morning Glories - at least one in particular - Star of Yelta, that I let go to seed. What a mistake. I have always had trouble growing Lamium! I find children to be invasive - especially my own. I swear sometimes I hear about seven kids playing / yelling / marauding - yet when I look, it's just my two. Weird. I've considered pest control...

Don't bother, they are immune....it actually makes them multiply!

Thanks for the DWBH explanation, grammyphoeb.

Victor - aren't you the pest control? I thought that's what I overheard them saying.

My worst bobo took place when I first started a rock garden. I bought a creeping babies breath plant. It bloomed prettily and I proceeded to plant pieces around the garden. A more experienced gardener looked at my garden and told me I'd better get rid of the chickweed he saw in my flowerbeds.My bbreathe never did grow.

Oy vey! Star of Yelta! Beautiful flower but boy, they reseed like mad. And the first year I had them I collected seed! Now I have a business-sized envelope full of seed and I don't know what to do with it, lol. I'm afraid to throw it away because I have visions of the dump being taken over by this morning glory. Which wouldn't be so bad the first year, but I can see it now - first, the dump, next, the world! Bwaa haaa haaa!

Save them for any neighbor you have issues with.

I have lamium that hasn't even spread, much less become invasive. the area is mulched and I think that keeps it in it's place.

why is it the ones that we do want to multiply don't?????? Who is this Murphy fellow and just who does he think he is....the catch 22?

And the ones we hid too well are the ones we loved best but won't find until it's too late.

The worst is regular old turf grass. It thrives everywhere, except in the lawn (speaking as a non-chemical fertilizer / pesticide / herbicide / homicide gardener).

I second on the grass! I've already been weeding it out of my flowerbeds! They were greener than my lawn! Which by the way is sooooo bad I actually welcome crabgrass just to have some greenery! heehee!

The roots on the clumps of grass that manage to grow in our flower beds are so healthy and so strong. At least we can compost them.